Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Well, I wasn't going to post anything until tomorrow, but I guess I have to. Jagex's decision to bring back the "old wilderness" and "free trade" is too important to be ignored. It's not April 1, so I am taking it seriously. The decision, of course, - not the vote. The vote is a bad joke and, IMHO, should never been set up like this. It makes fools out of pkers (who are now frantically voting for other players listed in highscores) and it offends the rest of the players.

I actually don't mind having "old wilderness" and "free trade", though I was perfectly fine with the current state of the affairs (as I believe the vast majority of the players). But it'll be sad to see an influx of bots into the member worlds.

As far as links, I like Rafftank's post. It's very close to my opinion on the subject (and more elaborate). Take a look.

4 comments:

For those like me playing runescape solely for the amazing pvp aspect, it is the best update I can think of.

For many players, runescape is as fun as counter strike is for others, halo online or age of empires multiplayer to others. The pvp aspect can be overwhelmingly fun, and especially when you are good at it. I think that it will surely bring back many players in the game aswell as bring back an old dimension to rs and a better community over-all. As of now, A large part of the rs community within rs, made out of skillers, pixel chasers and braggers.

Pvp makes the community rock, with more honest people than not, less snobs. Take a look at current rs classic for instance. The community there is small but amazing, and what makes it up is people who play against eachother, not scattered skillers all over the map who do not interact with anyone. There will be exceptions of course, but overall that's what I've observed.

As for The so-called ''Voting'' , well I know that it most-likely won't affect the outcome. But notice that particular page's design, notice the share buttons. This will make a large buzz around the web. Business-wise, it is a smart move for jagex, as lots of people will hear about runescape.

Being able to trade without having to worry about "is it in the limit?" is great! I have quite a lot of real life friends who play RuneScape, and to be limited to 5k, 10k to trade with f2p players, basically sucks.

It just seems like it'd make the community better now. How many people use the wilderness for anything else now anyway?

Also, not only is the news like wildfire on the internet, it's like wildfire IRL as well. I went to a christmas party and the main topic was how awesome the free trade update would be. Flyers are going around town to spread the word. RuneScape is getting free advertising for doing something so many players want to see happen anyway :D

Well, you are both right, I guess. Jagex knows what they are doing. And if it helps to rejuvenate the game and bring more players in, I'm all for it. But I don't like how the "vote" thing makes fools out of Runescape players.

You are absolutely right about one thing Vaskor... I don't know who thought up the idea of this ridiculous "vote" but it clearly has numerous flaws. They've all been listed before but the concept of being able to vote for other people simply by typing in their name tops the list as far as I am concerned.

That's too bad, too, because I think the idea of returning the wilderness and, especially, free trade has great merit. I have constantly preached that any economic system where price changes can take weeks to develop when market conditions change is fundamentally broken. Similarly, any economic system where a group of players can over those same weeks manipulate the pricing of not just regular goods but also high volume commodities to the point where those same commodities become unavailable to the general public is fundamentally broken. Don't even get me started on the ridiculous market for rares that exists under today's market restrictions.

I can take or leave the reintroduction of old wildy. People who want to PvP should be able to do so, but I also like wildy beign a little less dangerous then the wildy of old. Meh.

I don't understand how Jagex is going to deal with a number of problems which will inevitably arise: 1) bots, 2) scammers, 3) access to wildy locations which have become necessary by new gameplay (think Corp beast, penguins, etc.). I am sure there are others I have missed. I fear I will be unhappy with their solutions to these problems. I'm not sure any of us, however, can expect to agree with every change that is implemented in this game.

I am not sure I agree with your statement "Jagex knows what they are doing." Indeed, I think this is the first time Jagex has come out and said that they do not think they have a solution which will completely eradicate cheating... finally. IMO, the return of free trade is the first step in reversing a situation where the baby was thrown out with the bath water.

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